Marketing Communication Strategy Report: Addison Lee Case Study

This report analyzes the marketing communication strategy of Addison Lee, a private hire service provider in the UK. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction that outlines the report's objectives. The report then explores the evolution of marketing orientations, including production, product, selling, and marketing orientations, highlighting Addison Lee's adoption of a marketing-oriented approach. It delves into the marketing environment, encompassing both macro (PESTLE analysis) and micro-environmental factors (SWOT and competitor analysis). The report examines Addison Lee's marketing strategies, particularly segmentation approaches (geographic, demographic, psychographic) and the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion, people, and physical evidence). It concludes by summarizing the promotional mix and overall marketing communication efforts of the organization, emphasizing the company's ability to adapt its marketing strategies to gain a competitive advantage in the market.

Running head: MARKETING COMMUNICATION
Marketing Communication
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Executive Summary
This is a report, which will depict the marketing communication strategy for the organization
named Addison Lee. The study will highlight the marketing orientation, which will describe the
orientation of production, product, selling and marketing. The next part of the report will portray
the marketing environment and strategies that have been used by Addison Lee. The report will
finally conclude with marketing mix of the organization. Thus, it can be seen that the
organization has been using personalization of the service to gain majority of the market and as
the market leader, Uber has lost its license i9t is good opportunity for the organization to gain
competitive advantage.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Evolution of marketing....................................................................................................................3
Marketing environments..................................................................................................................5
Marketing strategies.........................................................................................................................7
Marketing mix.................................................................................................................................8
Promotional mix............................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
This is a report, which will depict the marketing communication strategy for the
organization named Addison Lee. The study will highlight the marketing orientation, which will
describe the orientation of production, product, selling and marketing. The next part of the report
will portray the marketing environment and strategies that have been used by Addison Lee. The
report will finally conclude with marketing mix of the organization. Addison Lee has been in the
United Kingdom market for more than 40 years and provides private hiring services to the
consumers in the United Kingdom market. They provide their services through private jets,
taxybikes, coaches and minicabs (Addison Lee 2017). Recently, the organization has been able
to expand their business by incorporation of technology into the business model of the
organization.
Evolution of marketing
The four key aspects that will be discussed in the evolution of the marketing are product
orientation, product orientation, marketing orientation and selling orientation (Kumar 2015).
Production orientation principle states that any product can be sold readily if the
product quality is high. This theory is based on the economies of scale, which suggest gaining
cost advantage without compromising with the quality of the product. Thus, the organizations
were focusing on attaining cost effectiveness by obtaining smallest output (Urde, Baumgarth and
Merrilees 2013). In the early years of the 19th century, there was a misconception that producing
high quality product with good durability would be the key to success. However, this business
model became outdated as the market place became global and crowded.

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Product orientation deals with the quality of its product and is similar to the product
orientation. This means that the sole focus of this business model is on the quality of the product.
Thus, this business model will focus on the research and development processes in the firm
(Baker 2014). Thus, the organizations will have to keep on continuously make improvements to
the quality of the product so that the organization can evolve.
Selling orientation is contradicting the product and production orientation and is focused
on the usage of the promotion and selling of a product. This business model focuses on the sales
orientation of the organization. Thus, this model will focus on the successful establishment of
relationship between the organization and the customers (Krafft et al. 2015). Thus, the business
model will try to identify the needs of the consumers and achieve profit maximization with tools
of promotion and marketing.
Marketing orientation is the modification of selling orientation business model, which
suggest that the organization will try to identify the needs, desires and the wants of the
consumers and design the products based on that factor (González‐Benito, González‐Benito and
Muñoz‐Gallego 2014). This business model is the most advanced and is the result of the
evolution of the business environment of the organizations. This shows that consumers had
become the driving force for the
Addison Lee has incorporated the marketing orientation in the business model. This can
be identified with instances such as changing the orientation of the business towards the
consumers. Moreover, the organization has incorporated the use of information technology in to
their business model. Addison Lee launched mobile applications and focused on improving the
overall experience of the consumers. Thus, it can be confirmed from the fact that Addison Lee
has incorporated marketing orientation.

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Marketing environments
Marketing environment consist of the macro and the microenvironment of the
organization. The macro environment will deal with the external environment, which will affect
the organization business. These factors cannot be controlled by the organization so they will
have to be aware of it so that they reduce the negative impact of the macro environment
(Armstrong et al. 2015). The tool that is used for identifying the macro environment is PESTLE.
The microenvironment analysis deals with the factors of the organization that is specific to each
of the organization and can be controlled directly or indirectly. The microenvironment analysis
will consist of SWOT and competitor analysis, which will identify the potential threats and
weaknesses of the organization (Mose 2016).
Addison Lee will have to analyze the macro and the microenvironment as it will have
significant impact on the business of the organization. Thus, it is essential to identify the factors
that are under the direct and indirect control (Xu, Hao and Han, 2017). Moreover, it is important
to identify the factors, which are not under the control of the organization. The marketing
strategy will be developed based on these factors so that Addison Lee can strengthen position in
the market by creating suitable strategy.
BREXIT has affected the GDP of the country and it is decreasing. Thus, the inflation rate
is increasing which will influence the disposable income of the consumers. However, this will
have a positive impact on the organization due to the increase in the foreign direct investment
(Ashill and Jobber 2014). The diminishing employment opportunities will also provide cheap
workers, which will facilitate to gain competitive advantage in the market.

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The standard of living in United Kingdom is high and social class is highly prevalent in
the country. This will act in favour of the organization as the lifestyles of the customers are
habituated to availing luxuries. Thus, the organization is able to incorporate personalization of
the customer experience by using micro marketing. Thus, the organization will be able to make
use of the personalized data to provide lucrative deals to the consumers (Rogers et al. 2017).
Moreover, Uber has lost its license in United Kingdom that will cause the consumers to switch
their companies as private hire taxi are an essential necessity for most of the population in the
market.
Uber was the biggest competitor of Addison Lee in the market but they were stripped of
their license due to their lack in the corporate social responsibility activities. Thus, they cannot
be considered as the present major competitors for Addison Lee. The major competitors for the
company are Hailo and Kabbee who are providing stiff competition in the market (Davidson
2017). Kabbee has taken hold of majority of the black cabs in the United Kingdom market and
Hailo has been providing services at rip off prices. Thus, these competitors have the resources
and capability of taking away consumers form the organization.
Addison is using technology to gather information about the various customers in the
market. This has helped them to personalize the service they are offering to the consumers and
they have been able to incorporate vertical integration in to the supply chain of the organization.
Addison Lee is using big data to keep track of all data of the consumers and develop schemes for
gaining consumer loyalty (Evening Standard 2017). They are keeping track of loyal consumers
and providing them with points, which could be used to provide benefits to the consumers in the
market. The organization has a strong database management system which has helped them to
operate efficiently at micro level.

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Marketing strategies
Segmentation is the process of identification of the target market for the specified
organization. Segmentation divides the market into various groups of harmonized characteristics.
Addison Lee is using geographic and demographic segmentation in an effective way, which has
helped them to develop their pricing based on the services they provide. It is important for the
organization to demarcate their target consumers in various segments so that they can develop a
strategy, which is useful for developing strategies for marketing (Schlegelmilch 2016). The
organization has been using differentiated marketing strategies for increasing the wallet size of
the organization. This differentiation is based on the cost as they are trying to replace other taxi
services. Thus, for the demographic segment between the age group of 16-25 differentiation is
very important, as it will be able to provide competitive advantage to the market. Thus, it can be
said that marketing segmentation is stepping stone for the development of strategy for the
organization.
The two segmentation approaches that will useful in this context are demographic and
social economic approach and psychographic approach. The demographic and the socio
economic approaches will identify the segment based on their age, family income and
occupation. Most of target segment in this group will be students so cost differentiation is the
strategy, which has to be applied by the organization. The disposable income of this segment is
low so they will have to be provided cheaper rates and this group can become the loyal
consumers for the company. Moreover, as Uber is out of the picture, the organization can gain
competitive advantage if they can identify the needs of this segment of the market. The
psychographic segmentation will help to promote the product (Oh and Oh 2017). The selected

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target consumers are more adapt to social and online media so the use of the online media for the
marketing purpose will be essential for the organization. This segmentation methods falls under
the consumer characteristics approach. The next approach that will should be used is the
consumer response approach, which will consist of benefit response, usage response, loyalty
response and occasion response (van der Zanden et al. 2014). The benefit approach will market
the benefits the organization will be providing to the target consumers. The usage response will
indentify the volume of usage of the target consumer to determining the marketing strategy that
will have to be used. Loyalty response will enable the organization to indentify the preferences
of the consumers in the market. Thus, these approaches will be important in identifying the
potential strategy for the organization.
Marketing mix
MARKETING MIX
Product The organization started as a business-to-
business organization. However, in order to
maintain their sustainability in the market they
had to start their own app service. The
organization has focus on personalization of
the services they offer by accommodating big
data in to their business model. This has
enabled them, to identify their need and wants
of the consumers and provide them with the
exact requirement. The organization has

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developed services for different segments with
different disposable income. The main
products of the organization include taxybikes,
minicabs, private jets and coaches.
Price The organization has divided the consumer
according to their disposable income. Thus, the
pricing of the services offered are divided
according to the needs and wants. Moreover,
the demand of the services will also impact the
prices of the product.
Place The organization has expanded its business to
different parts of United Kingdom and they
have been using similar strategies that they
have used in London. Moreover, they are
focused on providing service in the urban areas
as the target consumers are in that region.
Promotion The organization has been using the tradition
medium for marketing the service they are
offering to the organization. However, they
have started using social media marketing and
online media for further penetrating into the
market.

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People Addison Lee has both male and female
employees working in the organization. They
have 4500 cars in the business which serve
consumers in London and other parts of United
Kingdom.
Physical evidence The organization has its main office in London.
It had been a business-to-business
organization; however, the majority of their
consumers are coming from the app and online
media.
Process The consumers can directly make a call to hire
a private cab and at the same the app can be
used for hiring a taxi. The organization sends
the nearest available cab to the location of the
consumer.
Table 1
(Source: Khan 2014)

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Promotional mix
The promotional mix contains elements such as advertising, publicity, public relations,
personal selling and sales promotion (Helm and Gritsch 2014).
 Advertising can be considered way of communicating with the masses. It is one of the
most popular tools for promotional strategy. The major part of the promotional budget is
spending on advertising that includes print media, digital media and social media.
 Sales promotion will consist of non routine and routine policies which are applied to
increase the amount of sales of the organization.
 Personal selling is direct form of communication where the representative will
communicate with potential consumers to pursue them to buy the product.
 Publicity is the way of communicating with the masses where they do not pay for the
message that is being promoted.
 Public relation deals with maintaining adequate relationship suppliers and consumers.
In this poster the major products of the organization has been highlighted with the help of
pictorial representation. The poster has tried to promote the key benefits of using the service
provided by Addison Lee and the services offered. Moreover, they are promoting their website
and social media accounts so that they can further penetrate in to the market. The poster includes
the discount offered which will highlight the sales and promotional strategy of the organization.
The target audience for the organization are the urban population in London and United
Kingdom. The target market has been divided in to various segments depending upon their
disposable income (Shiau, Huang and Chen 2013). This will include the premium consumers and

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normal consumers who are provided personalized service based on their respective needs and
wants.
Addison Lee is using traditional form of media and as well as online media to grab the attention
of the consumers. The poster highlights the form of communication the consumers can use to
contact the organization in order to avail the service (Luxton, Reid and Mavondo 2015). The
website handles of the organization has been mentioned in the poster, which can easily reach to
the consumers.
The poster sends the message that Addison Lee is the best option for the consumers because of
the benefits they are providing. Moreover, the diversified product that they are offering shows
that Addison Lee can be used for varied services.
The poster highlights all the benefits Addison is providing and this will help to grab the attention
of the consumers. The poster contains discount offers, which will increase the interest of the
consumers and the rewards mentioned in the poster will increase the desire of the consumers to
avail the service (Rawal 2013). The poster shows that Addison Lee is serving London and the
rest of United Kingdom with these services, which will represent the closing, thought of this
poster that is action.
The organization will be using the social media to gain feedback of the consumers, as it is the
most transparent form of media. Moreover, the organization can use traditional ways such as
surveys and questionnaires, which can provide a different perspective of the user. There are
particular age group of consumers who are more active on the social media website. Other
consumers are not that active on the social media website so conventional form of media will apt
for them.

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Conclusion
Thus, it is recommended that the organization should make use of the online marketing
strategy for penetrating further in to the market. Moreover, the organization will have to cost
differentiation to divide the pricing for each of the segment.
Thus, it can be seen that the organization has been using personalization of the service to
gain majority of the market and as the market leader, Uber has lost its license i9t is good
opportunity for the organization to gain competitive advantage.

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References
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2017, from https://www.addisonlee.com/
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